Based on the true story of an alleged "pregnancy pact" formed by a group of high school girls in 2008, this film explores the reasons why the students would completely set aside their education and future careers and give themselves over to producing babies. The film is told from the perspective of a journalist running a "video blog," who returns to her home town to cover the story.
Of course, the setting of Gloucester, Massachusetts recalls a similar event just to the south in Salem in the late seventeenth century. The notorious Salem Witch Trials began as a harmless prank in the forest performed by school girls. But it escalated into the groundless accusations of the townspeople when the girls felt the pressure to identify and condemn innocent people as conspiring with the devil.
In the case of the kids at Gloucester High School, their lives were apparently so empty that they felt the need to fill up their bellies with little babies without considering the realities and responsibilities of parenting. There was the same level of peer pressure exerted on them as was the case for the Salem girls, who casually accused Salem residents as heretics.
The film takes great pains in showing how parents, school administrators, the media, and society at large contributed to the girls' longings to become pregnant as a badge of honor. The unanticipated consequences of childbirth, child rearing, expenses, and the surprise with which the boys learned that they would become fathers were detailed especially well by the journalist named Sydney (Syd), as she conducted interviews and prepared her podcasts.
Syd herself had become pregnant with a child by Brady, who is now the hopelessly confused dean of students at the high school and is now happily married with a brood of children that might be called the Brady Bunch. Syd and Brady renew their past acquaintance, and Brady learns for the first time that Syd placed her little boy up for adoption, while lying to him that she had an abortion.
While attempting to present an objective account of the pregnancy epidemic, Syd also seeks to come to terms with her own experience. In the film's closing scene, she truly speaks from the heart, while offering a cautionary warning to unsuspecting youth about the untoward consequences of teen pregnancy.
Of course, the setting of Gloucester, Massachusetts recalls a similar event just to the south in Salem in the late seventeenth century. The notorious Salem Witch Trials began as a harmless prank in the forest performed by school girls. But it escalated into the groundless accusations of the townspeople when the girls felt the pressure to identify and condemn innocent people as conspiring with the devil.
In the case of the kids at Gloucester High School, their lives were apparently so empty that they felt the need to fill up their bellies with little babies without considering the realities and responsibilities of parenting. There was the same level of peer pressure exerted on them as was the case for the Salem girls, who casually accused Salem residents as heretics.
The film takes great pains in showing how parents, school administrators, the media, and society at large contributed to the girls' longings to become pregnant as a badge of honor. The unanticipated consequences of childbirth, child rearing, expenses, and the surprise with which the boys learned that they would become fathers were detailed especially well by the journalist named Sydney (Syd), as she conducted interviews and prepared her podcasts.
Syd herself had become pregnant with a child by Brady, who is now the hopelessly confused dean of students at the high school and is now happily married with a brood of children that might be called the Brady Bunch. Syd and Brady renew their past acquaintance, and Brady learns for the first time that Syd placed her little boy up for adoption, while lying to him that she had an abortion.
While attempting to present an objective account of the pregnancy epidemic, Syd also seeks to come to terms with her own experience. In the film's closing scene, she truly speaks from the heart, while offering a cautionary warning to unsuspecting youth about the untoward consequences of teen pregnancy.